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with for years over a disputed right-of-way
and he had beaten him Anally
in the courts. Wylie liked to triumph
over people, right or wrong. The
neighbor, a silent, irascible being like
himself, harbored no good will
toward the victor in the lawsuit and
threatened revenge.
Wylie had quite a harvest home
' jubilee. He hesitated about inviting
the Pences for a time. Then one of
his original ideas struck him and he
sent word to Cousin Olivia.
"I'll surprise them!" he chuckled.
"Olivia is true blue to me, even if
that cross-grained husband of her's is
a covetous, fault-finding old grouch."
So to the harvest function the
Pences came. The old man spread
himself on the occasion. The tables
groaned with goodly fare, there was
music and dancing and really, a very
enjoyable time.
"Something to give you,"remarked
Cousin Nathan, as most of the guests
were gone. Olivia and her husband
started out to get into' their wagon,
homeward bound.
Olivia looked expectant and her
husband dubious and suspicious. Wy
lie had gone baok into the house to
get the "something" he had an
nounced he was going to "give."
"Probably some of the left-over
rubbish from the feast!" growled
Jared.
"Don't mind, dear, if it is," said
01iviav soothingly. "Take things as
they come. tememDer, cousin Na
than is old and whimsical and' means
all right in his heart"
"Humph! Yes,", snorted Jared.
"That's because sentiment is cheap."
"Here's something for you people
to enjoy," hailed the old man, reap
pearing with a big yellow pumpkin in
his arms. "It's a prime -Prince Ed
ward, fat as a yam and mellow as a
peach. There you are," and lifted
his gift over the tailboard of the wa
gon and gave it a roll i toward the
scowling Jared, who was glaring
back regarding the detested pumpkin
with an evil eye.
"What are you going to do, Jared?"
inquired Olivia uneasily, as he
jumped down to the ground.
"I'm going to smash that cheap,
common pumpkin on the hardest
rock I can find, that's what I'm going
to do!" raved Jared, aflame with
wrathful indignation.
"No, no!" Olivia called out, and
she, too, sprang to the ground. "No
matter how hard you feel against
Cousin Nathan it's a sin to destroy
good food."
"For cows, yes!" sneered her irate
better half.
But Olivia had gotten hold of the
rotund subject of contention first.
The very thing!" she exclaimed, and
forthwith bore it to the steps of the
little cottage near at hand. This
happens to be the home of-the poor
seamstress, Mrs. Price.
"She can probably use it," said
Olivia, as she returned to the wagon
and the incident was closed, al
though Jared growled and grumbled
all the way home.
Th6 incident was closed for the
Pences for the time being, but not for
the- Prices. This happened early the
next morning. Little Elma Price dis
covered the rejected pumpkin on the
doorstep. Her mother gratefully at
tributed the gift to some kind neigh
bor and cut it open to find that It sep
arated readily. A former incision had
been made and Mrs. Price stood and
stared, as she discovered nestling in
its golden heart a $100 bHl pinned to
a slip of paper bearing the name of
Nathan Wylie.
Surely fate was at work in an ac
tive way that auspicious day! At
once Mrs. Price directed little Elma
to venture to penetrate "the den Of
the ogre" and return the banknote
so strangely come to light.
And little Elma arrived just after
the litigious neighbor of Wyle had
ended a quarrel by knocking down
Wylie in his own house. He had
swung away, net observing that Wy
lie had fallen across an urn, break
ing it and severing a vein In his neck